Over 30 educators in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington participated in the region's first annual voluntary monitoring water quality workshop. The workshop was held July 14 and 15, 2003 at the Central Idaho 4-H Camp in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho. The justification for holding this workshop was to enhance Extension's visibility as a provider of science-based education in natural resources. The workshop was designed for educators who: Plan to conduct water quality training for citizens and students in the Pacific Northwest Plan to conduct training for groups that wish to monitor various water quality parameters Want to learn about water quality and resource information material available through land grant universities Want to increase their skills in leading water quality monitoring programs This workshop contained: A 15-hour short course on water education and monitoring A forum for water quality materials exchange An opportunity to interact with water educators from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington A free, 428-page educator's manual containing water quality and monitoring information The learning objectives of the workshop were to: Understand water, watersheds, and the beneficial uses of water Identify primary sources and issues surrounding drinking water and ground water Recognize the key indicators of surface water quality Learn how to develop or support a local volunteer monitoring workgroup Asses physical, chemical, and biological water habitats and quality Empower citizens to protect their water quality Invitations were sent to educators in Extension, Conservation Districts, schools, state and local environmental agencies, and NGOs. Up to 40 participants could be accommodated at the training, with room and board provided free of charge, transportation being the only cost to participants. This program was provided in collaboration with the NIFA Volunteer Monitoring National Facilitation Project.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water// University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration; and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	Over 30 educators attended the workshop, with all four states being well represented. Presenters at the two-day workshop were from the four states as well as two presenters from the Volunteer Monitoring National Facilitation Project. The latter two were from Wisconsin and Rhode Island. Lectures, discussion, and field demonstrations were used to get the message across. Evaluations by the participants showed a high degree of satisfaction with the workshop, for example: I really learned a lot and have so much more to learn from the manual and resources provided. I would recommend the workshop to others. Strengths were the hands-on testing and the diverse groups in attendance. Networking opportunities were the most beneficial aspects of the workshop. The workshop was well organized and science/experience based. It's awesome to be able to meet people who are working on similar issues, as such meetings can lead to collaboration between groups and a stronger program for volunteer monitoring over all. Strengths were the location, the instructors and the content. The Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Team is planning to repeat the workshop next summer. For more information go to our website: http://www.pnwwaterweb.com or to include your name in our contact list, send an email indicating your interest to Jan Seago at seago.jan@epa.gov.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	NIFA is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a sub-agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and is the federal partner in this water quality program.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on August 27, 2006